CVE-2025-62865: 
WordPress vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2025-62865 is a Missing Authorization (Broken Access Control) vulnerability in the WordPress Post Cloner plugin by Evan Herman, affecting all versions up to and including 1.0.0. It allows unauthenticated network attackers to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels, potentially performing privileged actions without authentication. The vulnerability was reported by Nabil Irawan on November 5, 2025, and published by Patchstack on December 5, 2025, with CVE assignment on December 9, 2025. It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 (Medium) (Patchstack).

The root cause is classified as CWE-862 (Missing Authorization), meaning the plugin fails to perform adequate authorization, authentication, or nonce token checks before executing privileged functions (Patchstack). This maps to OWASP Top 10 category A1: Broken Access Control. An unauthenticated remote attacker can send crafted HTTP requests to trigger post-cloning functionality that should be restricted to authorized users, requiring no user interaction and low attack complexity. No public proof-of-concept code has been identified at this time.

Successful exploitation allows an unauthenticated attacker to perform unauthorized post-cloning actions on the affected WordPress site, resulting in a low integrity impact with no confidentiality or availability impact per the CVSS assessment (Patchstack). While the direct impact is limited, Patchstack notes that vulnerabilities of this class are commonly leveraged in mass-exploit campaigns targeting thousands of WordPress sites simultaneously, regardless of site size or popularity. The scope is limited to the affected WordPress installation and does not directly enable lateral movement or sensitive data exfiltration.

No active in-the-wild exploitation has been confirmed, and Patchstack rates the priority as Low, noting the issue is unlikely to be exploited (Patchstack). No public exploit code, exploit kit integration, or threat actor attribution has been identified. The EPSS score is approximately 0.017% (0.000170), indicating a very low probability of exploitation in the near term. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

As of the disclosure date, no official patch is available for the Post Cloner plugin (version 1.0.0 remains the latest vulnerable version) (Patchstack). Recommended actions include:

• Remove or deactivate the Post Cloner plugin until an official patch is released by the developer.
• Use a WordPress security plugin such as Patchstack, Wordfence, or similar tools that can provide virtual patching or firewall rules to block exploitation attempts.
• Monitor the plugin's WordPress.org repository or the developer's channels for an updated version that addresses the authorization checks.

Patchstack, which coordinated the disclosure, classifies this as a low-priority issue with no impactful threat, and the researcher Nabil Irawan is credited with the discovery (Patchstack). No notable broader media coverage, vendor statements, or significant community discussion has been identified for this vulnerability.